ISPAC Editorial: Government As a Force For GoodJanuary 10, 2012According to the US Department of Labor, the Albuquerque Metro area lost more jobs from November 2011 to November 2012 than any other metro area in the country. During this same time frame, the majority of metro areas in the country experienced job growth not loss. New Mexico is also one of five states with the highest level of people leaving the state for greener pastures. People have to go where the jobs are and they are certainly not here. Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry and New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez have failed miserably at economic development. Both put politics before people maintaining that the private sector would create many jobs if only the government got out of the way. Martinez publicly criticized the federal dollars that flow to New Mexico. She closed New Mexico’s Washington, DC office used by the Richardson administration as a base to work from to ensure that federal money kept coming to New Mexico. Martinez chose instead to pander to the Rio Grande Foundation and other extremist groups that believe government should be reduced in size and drowned in the bathtub. But, despite her opposition to the role of government in creating jobs, those private sector jobs that Martinez counted upon never materialized. Yesterday, Martinez embraced the Democratic safety net of expanding Medicaid. This decision should have been a no-brainer on Martinez’s part. We are one of the poorest states in the country with a large percentage of our population having no medical coverage. The expansion, thanks to President Obama and a Democratic controlled US Senate, will be paid for almost entirely by the federal government. It is good that Martinez recognized the merit of expanding the safety net as Democrats have urged her to do. Over time, the Medicaid expansion will also create jobs in the medical field. There are not enough providers to handle the increase in patients. This too is a good thing. Martinez has exhausted her political capital on non-issues like preventing illegal immigrants from getting driver’s licenses and preventing parents from being involved in critical education issues facing their children. It is time for Martinez and Berry to start putting people ahead of politics. It is time for both of them to use the full resources of the government including federal dollars to create jobs. New Mexico cannot afford to lose any more jobs.